Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, ex-director of operations, is sanctioned even more severely than his former partner, Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the fallen Californian start-up.
Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, former chief operating officer of Theranos, who promised to revolutionize blood tests, was sentenced to almost 13 years in prison on Wednesday December 7, even more than his former companion Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of the start. -up fallen Californian.
Judged in a separate trial, Ramesh Balwani was found guilty in July on all cases of fraud against investors and patients of the company. The former number two of the start-up was sentenced to 155 months in prison on Wednesday, according to a decision rendered by a US federal judge.
Founded in 2003, Theranos promised to invent a machine capable of performing hundreds of blood diagnoses from a single drop of blood taken from the finger. Thanks to this revolutionary project, the start-up had aroused the enthusiasm of many businessmen and senior figures, including the former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the former Minister of Defense James Mattis or the magnate media Rupert Murdoch. But she had collapsed when the wall street journal revealed in 2015 that the technology never worked as expected.
Read alsoTheranos scandal: from glory to prison, the fall of a Silicon Valley icon
Ramesh Balwani’s conviction comes less than a month after that of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in mid-November. A judgment she appealed. Ramesh Balwani’s ex-girlfriend had established herself as a star in Silicon Valley, thanks to a very elaborate story and appearance that had won her the confidence of investors. At the controls of Theranos, the two lovers, who were initially sued together but were ultimately tried separately, had raised hundreds of millions of dollars in funds.
At its peak, their startup was valued at nearly $10 billion.
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